Chapter 64: Life Itself is the Most Wonderful Fairy Tale

A/N: So I'll just come out and say it, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to get to a computer yesterday and therefore wasn't able to write this chapter. Anyways, time for shout outs: sashaXmafuyuFOREVER as always gets one for her review and today DazzTugz joins her in reviewing and I'm glad to hear from a long term reader of this story. Sadly we are nearing the end so get ready! ENJOY THE FINAL FIGHTING CHAPTER!

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Start of Battles (Natsu POV)

I land safely on the roof and watch everyone else scurry about. Checking the lacrima, running to a hole, jumping down said hole, and disappearing into their own frying pan. I sighed and rubbed my chin, wondering if I really had to waste my time with this or if I could go home and sleep. 'Or eat. I do wish I had some fire to eat, and I can't eat my own fire, it's not naturally made. Man, I really hate that fact. Oh well, I'm more worried about the three people who I know are up to something. Mern, Karr, and Rogue, those three are either spies or are planning to betray me for the reward. Bastards. Think I didn't know? Of course I knew I could hear your heartbeats and therefore your lies. Especially you Rogue, like Sting would ever just let you leave while giving you his power. Stupid idiots, all of them. Oh well, if I judged this right, we'll get Gajeel and his family to join us, he respects Esoj way too much and Levy and Lucy are best friends. Well, enough thinking, Luce is getting suspicious time to go.'

I walked over to Lucy and squatted down next to her and saw everyone starting their battles. "What do you think Natsu? Clean sweep?" Lucy asked and I nodded.

"But watch Mern and Karr carefully, you already know that Rogue is lying through his teeth. I'm getting a bad feeling from those two, especially Mern. Be careful, he might come and try something after he crushes Cobra. Stay safe and don't worry, Hoshi will be safe. Let me know any updates via telepathy for as long as that works." I said and she looked at me like I was crazy.

"Ok… I think you're overestimating Mern and his brain but ok… and who's the one worrying now?" She asked smugly and we both laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm off. Keep me updated, bye Luce." I said and kissed her forehead, she smiled at me and I ran off. The came back and checked the lacrima to see where Laxus was. Lucy face palmed but I just ignored her, and saw that Laxus had gone into the basement. 'Eh? He chose the basement floor? Makes sense I guess it's where the bad guy usually hides. But I'm no villain; I would have preferred the big room. Or the front room, so we can fight to our leisure. Oh well here goes nothing!' I reached the hole that leads to the basement and jump down.

I free fall for a bit, the room being so far down compared to the other ones. But when I do land, I see an empty room instead. "Oi, Natsu! I'm over here dumbass." I hear Laxus call and I turn. I see him sitting down on the floor and he doesn't get up. "So glad you could make it, you know I was hoping to see you. Not that I had any doubts it would be you. You wouldn't miss the chance to humiliate me again. You think you're so special. So strong now. So untouchable that you called for this rematch over a year in advance. Tried to make a deal with the council so that you could earn a pardon by winning this. Well guess what? No matter what you do you'll never taste your freedom. This isn't a fairy tale where the main character gets what they want! No this is real life! There are no happy endings here. You already stole mine; succeeding Jiji as master and having him still guide me from behind the scenes. You stole my happy ending a year ago! And now, I'm going to ensure that none of you get a happy ending! I'm going to kill you and be done with you all! NOW DIE!" He yelled and I sighed at him, while he charged.

He came at me using his lightning to make himself super fast, but I still saw him coming. I dodged his fist and countered with a blow to his gut. Then as he stumbled forward, surprised by my counter, I yelled, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" My fist lit on fire and I punched him right in the back. He went face first into the ground as a small crater formed. I followed it up as I charged him again and yelled, "Fire Dragon's Sword!" A sword of fire appeared and I gripped it tightly. Then as I approached him, as he hadn't moved yet, I knew something was up. And what it was I knew too, so as I reached him I stabbed him in the back and through his chest.

I looked around and called out, "Wow. I know I hurt you Laxus but you should know something. You already stole my first fairy tale ending. You and the members of Fairy Tail ran me out of here. Out of my home without even checking if I did anything. My dream was to live here and be a member of Fairy Tail for as long as I lived. Then I would raise a family here, and live happily. But I was naïve in believing this. Because you see life is like a fairy tale. Not the happy one though. Like the ones that were originally written by the brothers Grimm, or whatever they were called. Those stories never ended happily, most of the time. But this time, mine will. And you won't be stopping me. Now show yourself, the real you. Not a psychic projection of you. The real you."

Then I heard some clapping as he Laxus came forward from the shadows and he said, "Good job Natsu. You figured me out. But that doesn't change anything. I'm still going to kill you. There is no happy ending here. Not today. Never again for you."

I sighed and charged him this time. He was ready and we started trading blows, or would have if he was fast enough. I landed a punch to his that was so fast I created sparks just from the friction my hand made with the air. Then I spun on him and delivered a roundhouse kick to his knee and swept his knees out from under him. Then, before he hit the ground I elbowed him in the gut and he made another crater in the ground.

I loomed over him and said menacingly, "Stop this Laxus. Even if that wasn't your all, that was at least fifty percent for you. That was me at twenty five percent, no power just speed right now. You're no match. Give up and leave. I don't want to kill you, but if you keep this up then you will end up dead." I stood up more and was ready to leave.

But Laxus wasn't, and he came quickly from his spot in the crater and attacked. He landed a punch to my chin, barely grazing it as I tried to dodge. Then he followed it up with a punch to my jaw, this time connecting with it. I stumbled back as Laxus charged and yelled, "Lightning Punch!" His fist became engulfed in lightning and he did an uppercut to my stomach. My feet left the ground and then he yelled, "Lightning Kick!" His foot became engulfed in lightning this time and he kicked me in the back. I crashed into the ground and made a small crater where I landed.

I quickly got up and looked at him, blinking at his attacks. "What was that it? Sorry, I thought a kid was punching me. And here I thought you actually trained." I cracked my neck before I added, "Now watch what happens when you reach your full potential."

I grabbed him while yelling; "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" and he went flying. I used my magic to propel myself after him, creating little flames from my feet like jetpacks. I flew after him and caught him before he hit the wall and punched him a few times in the face. Then I threw him and yelled, "Fire Dragon's Machine Gun!" I made my hands into little gun shapes and shot fire at him. Whenever they reached him they exploded and they did so for several minutes. I charged after him again, after he had recovered partially from the last attack and yelled, "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" I flew at him even faster as my whole body lit on fire, and when I reached him I head butted him in the gut.

He went even further into the ground than he already was, and if I had to guess he most likely hit bedrock. Then he came flying out of there in his lightning body mode. I sighed at him, hoping that by showing him that he was outmatched he would just give up. 'That would be no fun though. We haven't had a serious battle in years, and you can't count the battle with those demon dragons, that was just me killing them. Hmm, maybe this can still be fun. Not like he stands a chance right now. Wait, I got it!'

I looked at him as he floated down to earth and said, "So you're still awake. Good, if that had finished you off that would have been boring. But you're still no match for me." I grabbed something from my belt put it on my right arm, "So I'm going to help you out. I won't use my right arm from now on. That thing I just put on it is a rune creator, meant for use when training. When used it can trap a body part to your body and you cannot use it unless you deactivate it. So here's my challenge to you. Make me use both arms."

I tapped the rune creator and it came to life, trapping my arm to my body and leaving me down a hand. Laxus was not amused, "Don't mock me! I'm gonna make you use both arms in less than an instant!" He roared and tore his shirt off.

"Whoa there. I don't swing that way, and you're not Gray. Put that shirt back on please." I joked, making him even more mad than before. Then I understood what he was doing as he released more of his magical energy and went into his dragon slayer mode. "That's right. You weren't trained by a dragon but had a lacrima inserted into your body. You have to unleash your dragon slayer magic to use it. You're actually a lightning mage first. Tch, no wonder you were so weak. No matter, you're still no match for me though."

Then I backed up my talk as I charged him, upon him before he could even blink. I lit my fist on fire as I yelled, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" I punched him in the gut and followed it up with, "Fire Dragon's Claw!" My feet lit on fire and I spun on him, giving him a roundhouse kick to his arm. He went flying but caught himself before he hit a wall. He used his lightning body and came back to where I was and for the first time we actually exchanged blows. I punched him in the gut and he landed one to my open side, the one where my arm was trapped. Then we both punched each other in the face and I was able to land a quick kick to his arm, the right one. It looked as if we were going to have an even exchange for a moment. But before he could jump out of my reach, I landed a kick to his arm again and followed it up by yelling, "Fire Dragon's Raging Palm!" I hit him in the gut with my palm and had a little bit of fire on the palm. When I hit him the fire caused an explosion and he went flying again.

I watched as he caught himself and huffed in frustration, his breathing becoming uneven as he became a little tired. "What's wrong Laxus? I thought you said you could make me use both arms in an instant. Well, as you can see, I'm still only using one. Come on now. Give me your best! Or this will be over quickly." As I finished mocking him he roared and charged again.

This time I decided to show him the gap in our speed, instead of our strength. He threw a flurry of punches at me and I dodged every single one. He would throw one at my head and I simply moved my head. He would throw a hook at me and I simply jumped back a bit. He tried an uppercut and I just leaned back, hands in my pocket like I wasn't fighting. He got frustrated and he threw a punch with even more force behind it and this time I thought it would be fun to show him how futile this attack was. I put my hand up and caught his fist, squeezing it as he tried to keep the punch going. I smirked at him and twisted his arm, causing him to howl in pain and fall to his knees. I let go and yelled, "Fire Dragon's Claw!" and kicked him in the face.

He went flying again and I yawned, bored of how easy this was. "What this it? And you call yourself the master of the strongest guild in all of Fiore. Pfft, pathetic. Come on already! Go all out!" I yelled at him and he got up from where he landed. He was breathing a lot more unevenly than before and I sighed, knowing he was already reaching his limit. "Come on, really? You're running out of gas already? And you call yourself a wizard saint. Where's Jura? Maybe he would be a challenge. Then again he couldn't beat Nena and she wouldn't stand a chance against me. Oh well, I guess there really is no one here that can make me go all out anymore. Maybe no one in the world can." I said and looked at him, becoming disappointed in how this was turning out.

"How hard would you say you're going?" He asked and that surprised me.

"Sixty percent max. Maybe closer to fifty in all reality but I'm not sure it has been a while since I fought all out for a long time." I answered honestly and he nodded.

"This is me at about ninety right now. Key word being: now. You know of second origin correct?" He said and my eyes bulged in response. I nodded and he continued, "You see, I have had my second origin unlocked, but I have not unleashed it. I did not see the need to. Until now." Markings covered his body and I recognized it as the marking of second origin. I saw him smirking and I started smirking as well, excited to see just how much he grew in power.

He charged, and was much faster this time. He landed a punch to my gut before I could stop him and then landed one to my jaw and finished it up by yelling, "Lightning Dragon's Jaw!" He generated lightning in his hands and put them together, then brought them down on me from above. I was crushed into the ground and created a small crater as I did so. I blinked after the dust had settled and groaned for once, actually feeling the force of his blows for once. I laughed in excitement as I got up and looked at him.

"Finally! You finally made me feel some pain! Finally! Now we can actually start fighting!" I yelled and tapped my right arm, deactivating the runes. I released some more magical energy and felt myself nearing seventy five percent of my full strength. Then I really let him know how serious this was getting as I went into my fire lightning dragon mode. "Ready?" I asked and didn't wait for an answer. I charged him and punched him in the gut. Then I kept punching him in the torso and landed every single punch. I was so fast that he could barely even see me and I just kept punching him for a minute. Then I stopped and yelled, "Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!" and landed one last blow to his face.

He went flying and I laughed, excited that I could actually go this hard. I watched as he hit the ceiling and then hit the ground. He didn't get up for a minute and I thought that I had gone too far and had knocked him out. But then he eventually got up but did so very slowly. I looked and saw that he was coughing up blood and knew it was almost over. "Really? Was that all you have to offer? I know that was me at eighty percent but come on. Hey you know what let's see just how strong you are now. I'll give you one free shot. Hit me with your best attack and I'll see just how strong you are. Come on hit me!" I said and put my hands out like I was a starfish to emphasize my point.

He looked at me in contempt and walked over to where I was. I made a motion with my hands, saying to come at me and I stood there, waiting for his best shot. Then he put his hands together and yelled, "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!" He punched me with all of his strength and put almost all of his magic into the attack. I went flying and hit the wall, almost going through it. I groaned and coughed up some blood. But then I shook my head and peeled myself off the wall.

I looked at Laxus and he was done. He was breathing heavily and he looked ready to fall over from exhaustion. I got up and cracked my neck. Then I started stretching before I looked at Laxus. He was in disbelief, shocked that it looked like I hadn't even been hit by his attack. "How… I- I- I put everything into that attack…" He said in utter disbelief.

"I would tell you how I got this strong but it would take too long. Just know those five years away were quite useful. Now, got to sleep, you can't keep this up anymore." I said and sighed, then looked for the exit, exiting my fire lightning mode as I made to leave.

"NO! Wait, I have one more attack left!" Laxus yelled and I looked back at him.

I saw him standing up and I remembered the one attack that could actually defeat me, 'Fairy Law… And he can use it! But if he uses that he'll kill himself! I can't let him use it!' I started running at him, activating both my fire lightning mode and my dragon force as I did. "Laxus don't do it! You'll kill yourself if you do that technique in your current state!"

"Better we both go down than losing to you! Now prepare to die!" He yelled and mustered every bit of magical energy he had left. I charged him at full speed and reached him soon after. He had begun to cast the spell but I was still in time. I yelled, "Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!" and the spell hit him in time. A vortex of fire and lightning hit him and almost immediately he was out cold. He went flying and I grabbed him before he hit the wall and then dropped him to the floor.

I sighed and felt a massive weight come off my shoulders, a burden being taken off that I didn't even know I was carrying. I smiled and walked out of the basement, now a free man in every sense of the term. Except for the literal one but that would come soon, my fairy tale was almost near it's end. And for that, I was glad. 'My story is near it's end. Not my life, just my contributions to society. Hopefully I never need to go all out, ever. Well, except for whenever Hoshi gets a boyfriend but other than that never again. If that happens, then I know the world is safe.' I finally reached the exit and looked back one more time, and smiled softly. My fairy tale ending was now unfolding in front of my eyes.

Then I realized that Lucy never updated me once and I ran outside and to the roof. I saw everyone but her there but they were still celebrating. I saw Levy and asked her, "Why are you here?" She was about to answer but I stopped her, "You know what who cares. Better question: Where's Luc?"

She smiled and said, "Dealing with Juvia and Gray. She just finished; she'll be right back. You can relax now Natsu, you won." I realized how tense I must have looked and sat down, visibly relaxing.

I sat for a few minutes until Lucy got there and then I stood up and ran over to her. I gave her a hug and she returned it. "It's finally over Natsu. We're free again."

"Yes. Yes we are." I said and in that moment felt like I was in a kid's fairy tale, holding my princess after freeing her from the clutches of evil. And in that moment, my fairy tale ending was achieved, once and for all.

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A/N: There. The conflicts are over now. No more sad struggles or fighting. The climax has been reached and the battle is over for Natsu and Lucy now. Next comes the resolution and that is gonna be two chapters long. Then it will be over. Wednesday is the day and since I have no school tomorrow it will be done Wednesday, for sure. Well that's all for today, Remember! READ AND REVIEW, OR FAVORITE OR FOLLOW EVEN IF YOU SO PLEASE! ADIOS!